Nail holding attachment for hammers



Feb. 20, 1951 L. R. WATTERS ET AL NAIL HOLDING ATTACHMENT FOR HAMMERS Filed March 5, 1946 a A. ill/Ir! 0 M ggQ 4 Fig 2 3 VII/l v mm 5 S R R U TTH NT R E S 0 W T R i N mm Patented Feb. 20, 1951 NAIL noLmivG ATTACHMENT FOR HAMMERS Lloyd R. Watters and Frederick Schaefer, North Plainfield, N. J.

Application March 5, 1946, Serial No. 652,000

1 Claim.

Our invention relates to tools and more particularly to an attachment adapted to be used in connection with a hammer or the like.

The object of our invention is to provide an attachment for a hammer or the like adapted to hold a nail in position for driving it into place, when for any reason only one hand can be used.

Another object of our invention is to provide such an attachment which can be easily and quickly fastened to a hammer or the like.

Other objects of our invention may appear in the following specification describing our invention with reference to the accompanying drawing illustrating preferred embodiments of our invention. It is, however, to be understood that our invention is not to be limited or restricted to the exact construction and combination of parts described in the specification and shown in the drawing but that such changes and modifications can be made which fall within the claim appended hereto.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary side elevation of a hammer equipped with a nail holder attachment according to our invention.

Figure 2 is a view similar to Figure 1 showing a modified form of fastening the nail holder attachment according to our invention.

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken on line 3-3 in Figure 1.

Figure 4 is a sectional view taken on line 4-4 in Figure 2, and

Figure 5 is a perspective view of a hammer equipped with the attachment according to our invention with a nail held by the attachment in position for driving it into place.

Referring now to the drawing in detail the nail 'holder attachment according to our invention consists of a piece of thin resilient metal, for instance, spring steel, of substantially rectangular shape. The lower end it of this is flat and has a hole H therein. The main portion I2 is curved so that the inside thereof is concave. In addition to that the upper portion 52 is bifurcated so that two prongs 13 are formed. The upper ends of these prongs are curved so that the outside surfaces are convex as clearly shown at I4 in Figure 3.

The inner edges of the bifurcation in the upper portion !2 extend upwardly and outwardly, thereby forming an acute angle with each other. On the apex of this angle a small substantially circular hole i5 is formed. At an equal distance iupwardly from this hole in each inner edge of the bifurcation an arcuate recess it is provided having a bigger radius than the hole I 5. Another arcuate recess I1 is formed in each inner edge of the bifurcation adjacent the convexly curved portions I4 of the prongs i 3 and at equal distances from the hole 15 on the apex of the bifurcation.

The above described attachment is fastened to the handle 18 of hammer having a head 19 by means of a screw 20 or the like, which is screwed into the handle just beneath the head I 9 so that the convex upper prong ends are posi tioned alongside the hammer head as shown in Figure 3. The resiliency of the material from which the attachment is made holds the prongs It in close contact with the hammer head.

When the attachment is in place on the hammer a nail 2! can be inserted into the bifurcation so that the nail is located between two corresponding recesses I! or I 6 or in the hole [5 and the nail head is arranged between the attachment and the hammer head. The resilient prongs l3 clamping the nail head between them and hammer head, hold the nail in position for driving it into the wanted place.

In Figures 2 and 4 a hammer is shown having a head [9a and a handle l8a. The nail holder attachment shown in these figures has substantially the same shape as the one described above. It has prongs [3a, an apex hole l5a, two arcuate recesses Mia and two arcuate recesses Ila. The lower portion 10a in this modification is bent inwardly and upwardly as shown in Figure 4. When the hammer head l9a is fastened onto the handle lBa the inner end 10a is placed against the handle end and the head is driven over the attachment end Illa clamping the attachment securely in working position on the hammer.

Having described our invention what we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

A nail holding attachm nt for hammers including a head and handle, comprising an inner longitudinal thin extension for insertion within the opening in the head and adapted to be clamped in place therein by the handle, and opposed longitudinal resilient prongs integral with the inner extension and disposed adjacent to one side of the head and in clamping engagement against the same and having thin outermost ends bent outwardly laterally from the side of the head, said prongs including inner opposed edges which diverge toward their outer ends and which have a plurality of longitudinally spaced opposed arcuate recesses formed therein to form longitudinally spaced arcuate recesses of different s zes P9 selectively receive nails of diiferent sizes,

" 3 4 the heads of such nails being held by the prongs UNITED STATES PATENT in clamping engagement against the adjacent Name Date side the head- 543,255 Lewis July 23, 1895 II o m 701,076 McGinty May 27, 1902 gggggg fg 5 329,890 Peek June 2, 1903 "825,560 Smith July 10, 1906 REFERENCES CITED 845,823 Schmidt Mar. 5, 1907 The following references are of record in the FOREIGN PATENTS file of this patent: V 9 10 Number Country Date 111,559 Great Britain Dec. 6, 1917 

